Strong Monday openers for NBC

'Voice' very impressive, 'Smash' looks good in series bow

NBC’s Broadway-themed drama “Smash” opened to good ratings Monday, airing behind the timeslot debut of “The Voice,” which followed up its monster post-Super Bowl premiere one night earlier with very impressive numbers. The shows combined for easily the net’s top non-sports night of the season as it swept all six half-hours among young adults.

It will take a while to see where both shows settle, but NBC has to be pleased with the launch of “Smash,” which averaged a 3.8 rating/10 share in adults 18-49 and 11.5 million viewers overall, according to affiliate-based preliminary estimates from Nielsen. Though it fell off in its second half-hour as expected (from 4.2 to 3.4 in 18-49), “Smash” led its hour over competing dramas “Hawaii Five-0″ on CBS (2.7/7 in 18-49, 9.8 million viewers overall) and “Castle” on ABC (2.0/5 in 18-49, 8.7 million viewers overall) — both of which matched season lows in 18-49.

No regular 10 p.m. drama on any network this season has posted a higher 18-49 score than “Smash’s” premiere, and the only new drama to open bigger in 18-49 was ABC’s “Once Upon a Time” (4.0/10) in October.

Meanwhile, “The Voice” (6.6/16 in 18-49, 17.9 million viewers overall) ruled its two-hour timeslot, easily surpassing its first-season highs last spring in both 18-49 (5.7/15) and total viewers (14.4 million). The NBC music competition opened within shouting distance of Fox’s “American Idol,” which kicked off its season last month with a 7.4/19 in 18-49 and 21.93 million viewers overall – low by its standards. NBC hasn’t done better from 8 to 10 p.m. on Monday with regular series since 2004.

NBC won Monday, a night on which it has really struggled this season, in all key categories including adults 18-49 (5.7/14). One year earlier, with a lineup of “Chuck,” “Cape” and “Harry’s Law,” the net averaged a mere 1.6/4 in the demo.

Elsewhere, CBS and ABC held up well, with the Eye getting more good comedy scores from “How I Met Your Mother” (4.0/11 in 18-49, 10.0 million viewers overall), “2 Broke Girls” (4.3/11 in 18-49, 11.4 million viewers overall) and “Two and a Half Men” (4.2/10 in 18-49, 16.8 million viewers overall). Also solid but not quite as strong as the others was 9:30 p.m. soph “Mike & Molly” (3.4/8 in 18-49, 11.0 million viewers overall).

And at ABC, “The Bachelor” (2.6/6 in 18-49, 8.2 million viewers overall) was flat week to week despite the stronger NBC competition.

Fox’s drama combo of “House” (2.4/6 in 18-49, 7.2 million viewers overall) and “Alcatraz” (2.2/5 in 18-49, 6.8 million viewers overall) suffered the most, placing fourth from 8 to 10. “Alcatraz” lost about 20% of its week-earlier audience.

CW’s “Gossip Girl” (0.6/2 in 18-49, 1.3 million viewers overall) and “Hart of Dixie” (0.6/1 in 18-49, 1.5 million viewers overall) were in line with last week.